RFK Jr’s testimony offers a ‘through the looking glass’ moment for Democratic senators
RFK Jr’s testimony offers a ‘through the looking glass’ moment for Democratic senators
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Confirmation hearing was a spectacle as Democrats tried to hold a mirror to nominee, only for him to step right through. Robert F Kennedy Jr’s testimony was a “through the looking glass” moment for some senators, as lawmakers questioned one of the nation’s most influential vaccine critics for a job as the top US health official.
The hearing was a testament to how quickly Republicans have integrated “Make America Healthy Again” rhetoric into their own, lauding Kennedy, who was called a “predator” only hours earlier in a letter by his own cousin, as the correct man to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
That letter alone, which described how Kennedy put baby chicks and mice into a blender for the birds of prey he keeps as pets, might have been disqualifying in earlier political eras. But as the Trump administration dominates headlines with nominees, executive orders and new laws, Kennedy’s hearing on Wednesday was one more spectacle where thunderous Democrats attempted to hold a mirror to the nominee, only for him to step right through.
“We are truly through the looking glass this morning in the Senate here,” said the Colorado Democratic senator Michael Bennet. He later added: “Unlike other jobs we’re confirming around this place, this job is life and death.”. If confirmed, Kennedy would helm HHS, an agency with a $1.8tn budget that oversees the world’s leading pharmaceutical regulatory agency (the Food and Drug Administration), public health agency (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the world’s largest publicly funded biomedical research branch and directly insures 145 million people on Medicare and Medicaid alone, including tens of millions of children.
